Laura Middleton

ECE 497
Pilar Carroll
September 29, 2014
THE IMPORTANCE OF
PARTNERSHIPS

My Role

I am a:
Teacher
Learner
Partner
Community Member
Teammate
Leader
Role model
Strong Advocate
Middle Childhood
Although many of our children do not fall within the middle
childhood age group, most of them do! Here are some facts:

Middle childhood is:
- six to eleven years old
- a time to learn about the world at large
- a time to master new skills - a time of great physical, cognitive and
emotional growth
Rationale Our Children

Our children will gain:
- Awareness
- Respect
- Values
- Decision-making skills
- Improved attendance
- Understanding of importance of school
- Communication skills
- Increased learning
- Positive attitude toward school
- Self-concept of ability
- Benefits linked to outer community programs
and much more!
Rationale Parents and Teachers
Parents:
- Feelings of support from school and community
- Confidence in own parenting abilities
- Awareness of childs progress in school and otherwise
- Interaction with teachers
- Gain of skills through volunteering
- Understanding of curriculum
- Connection with other families
Teachers:
- Understanding of family values/backgrounds
- Respect for families
- Increased ability to incorporate culture into classroom
- Involving families
- Awareness of parents abilities
- Better planning of lessons/assignments
- Satisfaction with family/parent involvement in childs education
- Awareness of parental concern/perspective (Epstein, n.d.)
Bronfenbrenners Mesosystem
The mesosytem is the interactions between each of the things in a
childs immediate environment, such as:
- School
- Home
- Neighborhood
- Childcare centers

Six types:
- Parenting
- Communicating
- Volunteering
- Learning at home
- Decision making
- Collaborating with community
EPSTEINS TYPES OF
INVOLVEMENT
Parenting
Parents can include:
- Grandparents
- Older siblings
- Aunts/uncles
- friends
- foster/adoptive parents

We plan to provide workshops on parenting for each grade level, as
well as home visits at the beginning of each school year, scheduled at
the familys convenience. We have also partnered with a local adult
education center to provide assistance to parents who want to obtain
their GED or higher education levels. In addition, we are able to
provide resources to set families up with information on health,
nutrition and more (Epstein, n.d., pg. 1).

Communicating
It is immensely important that we keep a very open line of
communication between parents, students and teachers here at
Lincoln Elementary School. By communicating with each other, we can
ensure we are all on the same page and that the child is not confused
by conflicting care from different environments. We also ensure we all
have the same goals, and that the child is aware of the goals and is
able to provide input for their own education and development. We
can do this by:
- Providing parent/teacher conferences as often as necessary
- Sending home portfolios of students work after each unit
- Requiring parents pick up report cards rather than mailing them
home
- Providing clear information on choosing schools or classes, as well as
any extracurricular activities (Epstein, n.d., pg. 2)
Volunteering
Having adult volunteers in the classroom promotes :
- childrens communication skills especially with adults
- an increase in learning of skills from tutors and other volunteers
- an awareness of a variety of skills, talents, occupations, and
contributions from the volunteers (Epstein, n.d., pg. 3)

What we plan to do:
- implement and school/classroom volunteer program for parents
and community members
- open a family center within the school admin building where
parents can come for volunteer work, meetings, and information on
other resources
- a telephone tree system run by parentsn to help get information
out whenever necessary (Epstein, n.d., pg. 3)
Homework, in this case, refers to all learning and educational activities
outside of the school environment including assigned homework as well as
activities done as a family or in the community that can be linked to
schoolwork (Epstein, n.d., pg. 4)
Such activities can benefit the child by:
- leading to skills gain
- creating a positive attitude toward
schoolwork
- allowing them to view parents and
teachers as more equal
Some ideas we have:
- Providing parents/families with information on homework policies, skills
required and how to assist students
- Sending home calendars with activities
- Providing summer learning packets
- Getting families involved in setting goals (Epstein, n.d., pg. 4)
Learning at Home
Decision Making
Having parents involved in decision making helps childrens
development by raising their awareness of parent representation at
school and understanding that their rights are protected (Epstein, n.d.,
pg. 5).
We plan to make this happen by:
- Keeping the PTO here at LES active and keeping parents involved
- Finding a way for parents to be involved at a
district level
- Creating a network that links all families with
a parent representative (Epstein, n.d., pg. 5)
- This will work similarly to a small
government within the school
Collaborating with Community
Children need the community around them for essential developmental
needs. They can benefit greatly from school/community collaboration by:
- gaining skills through extracurricular
experiences
- becoming aware of careers and
future opportunities
We plan to implement this by:
- providing information to children
and families on community services
- providing information to children
and families on community programs
for students
- integrating services within the school as much as possible
- providing service to the community whenever possible (Epstein, n.d., pg.
6).
Resources
Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. (9
th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J;
Pearson.

Epstein, J. (n.d.). Epsteins framework of six types of involvement.
Retrieved from http://www,unicef.org/lac/
Joyce_L_Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Types_of_
Involvement(2).pdf

Schofield, T. J., Conger, R. D., Donnellan, M., Jochem, R.,
Widaman, K.F., & Conger, K. J. (2012). Parent personality
and positive parenting as predictors of positive adolescent
personality development over time. Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly, 58(2), 255-283.